Masonry in US History -- through 1846

BACKGROUND, HISTORY, AND INFLUENCE TO 1846

PUBLISHED IN WACO BY THE
COMMITTEE ON MASONIC EDUCATION AND SERVICE
FOR THE GRAND LODGE OF TEXAS
A.F. AND A.M.
1955

Chapter4-------------------------------------------pages 119-154

FREEMASONRY AND UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

THE ROLE of Freemasonry and individual Masons prior to and through
the American Revolution was that of the destruction of the traditional
social and political order based on an authoritarian philosophy and
characterized by inequality and privilege. Speaking generally, in the
ancient regime the church and state mutually supported each other in
maintaining their respective places of predominance and
privilege. Liberalism and liberals, which included Freemasonry and
Masons, were declared to be traitorous by the state, and heretical and
atheistic by the Church.

With the victorious end of the American Revolution, Masonic
philosophy had, for the first time in history, an opportunity to play a
constructive role in the erection of a political and social order. The
experience of Masonic organizations before the Modern Age had taught
Masons that liberty for the individual has never been handed down by the
government---that liberty is gained through the limitation of the powers
of government, not the increase of them. Masons had also discovered that
freedoms are learned---the individual has freedom of thought only as he
learns to move within the limits established by a rational intelligence;
he has freedom to form opinions only after he has learned to distinguish
the true from the false; he has social freedom only after he has learned
to live according to accepted standards of social intercourse; he has
political freedom to the extent to which the law protects his political
rights; and he has freedom to extend his liberties only when he has
learned to fulfill obligations and conditions of those liberties. Masons
have long recognized that: "The discovery of the power to aim at ideals
ends freely chosen by his own will and intelligence is the supreme
achievement of man, and in that, more than any other in any other single
fact, lies hope of the future." (1)

It is often contended that a close relationship between government
and operative masonry was already established when man entered the
historic age. It is possible that government, in its first rude form,
may have come into being in connection with some building activity by a
community of men. The magnitude of some ancient ruins indicates that
such buildings could not have been erected without a highly developed
system of government to control and coordinate the vast number of
workmen employed for long periods of time and to train the craftsmen
that were required. Investigation shows that as the Dark Ages gave way
to the Middle Ages, the builders were organized into craft guilds and by
the end of the Middle Ages a highly developed corporate structure, based
upon written charters or constitutions, had developed not only for the
builders but for all crafts and trades.

Attention has already been called to the surviving British Masonic
manuscripts of the Middle Ages and their relationship to the formation
of the philosophy of modern Freemasonry.(2) These documents contain
three classes of materials: Legends of the Craft, Regulations and
Masonic Ceremonies. The portion of interest here is the Regulations. The
provisions of these early codes of regulations applied to: ethics of the
Craft; relations between master and apprentices; duties of fellows and
apprentices; payment and acceptance of wages; moral behavior of Masons
to God, the Church, and the King.

The medieval craftsmen bound himself to his craft government by an
oath of obedience and allegiance just as the citizen of today binds
himself to his civil government. An example of such is found in the oath
to the Guild of St. Katherine at Stamford:

I shall be a true man to God almighty, to Saint Mary and to
St. Katherine, in whose honor and worship this Guild is founded; and
shall be obedient to the Alderman of this Guild and to his successors,
and come to him and to his Brethren when I have warnings and not absent
myself without reasonable cause. I shall be ready to pay scot and bear
lot and all my duties truly to pay and do; the ordinances, constitutions
and rules of the Guild to keep, obey, perform, and to my power maintain,
to my life's end, so help me God and holydom and by this Book.(3)

The Masonic lodges, as a part of the guild system, possessed three
constitutional factors that gave them a certain amount of political
experience as follows:

They exercised a degree of restraint upon the state through their
right to exercise certain judicial functions.

They served as an integral part of an independent unit of local
government.

They possessed and exercised the right of voluntary association which
included the right of assembly and discussion(4)

It seems that masons exercised a considerable degree of
self-government under the guild system of the Middle Ages and that they
probably had progressed as far in the evolution of political practices
as any other organization not excepting the State or Church. There is no
doubt that Masonic government, through assembly, discussion, and
election of it's officers and representatives for cooperation with other
guilds in city government, exercised a greater degree of democracy than
either state or church government at the beginning of the Modern
Age. The Masons had not permitted the development of highly autocratic
hierarchy with positions of privilege that could not be controlled by
democratic means from below.

An offshoot of the guild system was the trading company.(5) In 1463,
Edward IV granted a charter to a wool exporting company. In 1554, the
Russia company was incorporated; in 1581, the Turkey Company; in 1600,
the East India Company. The latter two of these companies, with charter
provisions for the establishment of local government, brought the germ
of a written constitution to America. The charters of the proprietary
colonies were appropriate modifications of the written contract or
constitution concept. In the case of Mary land, Cecilius Calvert, Lord
Baltimore, a roman Catholic and the founder, was made a constitutional
monarch by the terms of the charter.(6) William Penn, the Quaker
proprietor of Pennsylvania, a religious dissenter and Mason,(7) was
empowered to establish a government for his colony in accordance with
his philosophy.

Before leaving England Penn prepared, with the advice of prominent
landholders who planned to emigrate to Pennsylvania, a constitution and
a body of laws for the colony. This Frame of Government, with some
emendations and omissions, was adopted by an assembly representing the
freemen of Pennsylvania in 1682. This First Frame was revised in the
Second Frame in 1683 and by the Charter of Privileges of 1702 which
became the fundamental law of the province.(8) This fundamental law was
based on the consent of the governed; that authority should be vested in
the law, not man.(9) This code in it's final form was mild and humane
for the age. Prisons were converted into work houses and reformatories
and prisoners were not forced to pay fees or provide their own
support. All law-abiding persons who "acknowledged one Almighty and
eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the World" were to
be free to worship God in the manner of their choice.(10)

The colonial charters, the immediate antecedents of the American
state and federal constitutions, are therefore traceable to two major
sources; charters of incorporation, such as the joint stock trading
companies; and the doctrine of fundamental law and rights.(11) These
principles are fundamental in Masonry and Penn, since he was a Mason,
may have drawn his ideas, as well as those of representation and
religious toleration for those who believed in God, from this source but
there is no proof that he did.

It has already been pointed out that early in the seventeenth
century, the operative Masonic lodges in Britain began to admit members
who were not craftsmen as "accepted" Masons. This practice resulted in
the fundamental change from an operative craft guild to a speculative
school of philosophy. The survival of the Masonic organization while
related organizations were dying out in Britain and on the Continent is
of some significance. The first Grand Lodge which had it's origin in
London in 1717, adopted a constitution defining it's powers and it's
relations with subordinate lodges and individual Masons. The
constitution was drafted by Grand Master George Payne in 1720, and
adopted by the Grand Lodge in 1721. It was revised by the Reverend James
Anderson, and printed in the book form as Anderson's Constitutions in
1723.

Anderson's Constitutions conformed so perfectly to Masonic ideas of
government that adoption followed in the Irish and Scottish Grand
Lodges. In America, Benjamin Franklin issued a reprint of Anderson's
Constitutions at Philadelphia in 1734 (12) for the use of American
Masons.

The connection between the old constitutions of Masons and Anderson's
Constitutions is not left to speculation; Anderson states that the Grand
Lodge in September, 1721, "finding fault with all the copies of the old
Gothic Constitutions, order'd Brother James Anderson A. M. to digest the
same in a new and better Method." (13) The widespread acceptance of
Anderson's and Anderson's statement that he had been ordered to compile
a digest of old constitutions supports the conclusion that the climax of
a long period of evolution in Masonic jurisprudence and is a positive
link in conilecting the old operative to the new speculative lodges.

The government established for the Masonic fraternity under the
Constitution of 1723 was a federal System. The subordinate lodges
retained control of purely local lodge affairs under a set of by-laws of
their own adoption and the Grand Lodge administered the general affairs
of the order.

A fundamental code of law beyond the legislative power of the Grand
Lodge was recognized in Article XXXIX thus:

Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent Power and Authority to make
new Regulations, or to alter these, for the real Benefit of this Ancient
Fraternity; Provided always that the Old Land Marks be carefully
Preserv'd.(14)

The principles of representative government and majority rule were
adopted in Article X in these words:

The majority of every particular Lodge, when congregated, shall have
the Privilege of giving Instructions to their Master and Wardens, before
the three Quarterly Communications hereafter mentioned, and of Annual
Grand Lodge too; because their Master and Wardens are their
Representatives, and are supposed to speak their Mind. (15)

The principle of electing the officers and providing a rudimentary
means of protecting the ballot and elections from undo influence was
established in the Grand Lodge by Article XXXIX as follows:

.The Grand Master and his Deputy, the Grand Wardens, or the
Stewards, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Clerks, and every other
person, shall withdraw, and leave the Masters and warden of the
Particular Lodges alone; in order to Consult amicably about electing a
New Grand Master.(16)

Section 3 of Article XII established the term of office of the Grand
Officers at one year:

Grand Lodge must meet Annually in order to chuse every year a
new Grand Master, Deputy, and Wardens.(17)

Section 2 of Article XXIX established the principle that fiscal
agents are responsible to the legislative body in this manner:

The Grand Wardens and the Stewards are to account for all money they
receive or expend, to the Grand Lodge, after Dinner, or when the Grand
Lodge shall see fit to receive their accounts.(18)

The idea of checks and balances appears in the reservation of the
power to impeach the chief executive officer as implied in Article XIV:

If the Grand Master should abuse his Power, and render himself
unworthy of Obedience and Subjection of the Lodges, he shall be treated
in a manner to be agreed upon in a new Regulation: because hitherto the
ancient Fraternity have had no occasion for it, their former Grand
Masters having all behaved themselves worthy of the honorable
office.(10)

Majority rule, a limited executive, and universal suffrage are
provided for in Section 2 of Article XII as follows:

All Matters are to be determined in the Grand Lodge by a Majority of
Votes, each Member having one Vote, and the Grand Master (hvo)? Votes,
unless the said Lodge leaves any particular thing to the determination
of the Grand Master for the sake of Expedition. (20) (to be
corrected,page 6 PDF file)

Freedom of speech and equality of participation in discussion are
guaranteed to all Masons in Article XXXVII:

the Grand Master shall allow any Brother Fellowcraft, or Apprentice
to speak, directing his Discourse to his Worship; or to make any Motion
for the good of the Fraternity, which shall be either immediately
consider'd and finish'd , or else referred to the Consideration of the
Grand Lodge at their next Communication.(21)

Though it was expected that Masonic education activity should
continue to be a most important part of the work of the subordinate
lodges, Article XXXVIII provided that:

The Grand Master or his Deputy, or some Brother appointed by him,
shall harangue all the Brethren, and give them good Advice.(22)

Article XXVIII constituted the Grand Lodge as a supreme court of
appeals and arbitration, either by the body or by committee, in these
words:

All members of the Grand Lodge must be at the Place long before
Dinner. . . in order to receive any appeals duly lodg'd that the
Appellant may be heard and the Affair amicably decided; but if it
cannot, it must bereferr'd to a particular Report to the next
Quarterly Communication.(23)

The basic principles of government employed in Anderson's
Constitutions are: popular sovereignty by majority rule; government
limited by constitution; local lodges self-governing; Grand Lodge
supreme in federal system; a type of judicial review by the Grand Lodge;
implied powers exist in constitutional provisions.

It is impossible to state with certainty, the number, if any, of the
principles laid down in the Masonic constitutions that had their origin
in Masonry. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that, since builders
were organized into groups or lodges at a very early period in civilized
society, they might have originated some of them and certainly aided in
their refinement.

The origin of these basic democratic principals of government is not
as important as the fact that they had been discovered and were being
practiced, after1734, in the area that became the United States. Any
serious student of American history and government can identify other
institutions practicing some of these same concepts, but probably no
other institution was so widely distributed in the colonies as
Freemasonry. Differences in religion, government, and economy,
difficulties in transportation and communication, and a spirit of
localism and individualism existed from north to south from east to west
in varying degrees, but the basic principles of Freemasonry were
identical in the approximately one hundred colonial lodges established
by 1775, not excepting the colonial governments, had so many leaders of
the people in thought or in action from the local community level, as
were contained in the ranks of Masonry. This general acceptance by a
large segment of the leaders of the people of fundamental concepts is
significant in the formation of a federal union type of government and
becomes doubly so when those leaders are bound to one another by
fraternal ties which engender trust and confidence. Events will show
that such a condition must exist in America to make union possible, even
under the threat of common dangers.

The first ideas of a union of the English colonies were no doubt
conceived as a defensive measure against hostile Indians, the Dutch in
New Amsterdam, the French in Canada, and possibly the Spanish in
Florida. Such proposed unions were regional in character and their
effectiveness was related to the degree of danger felt by the
colonists. The New England Confederation was formed in 1643 but ceased
to function within a few years. In 1697, William Penn called a
conference of the twelve governors of the colonies; they discussed the
creation of a common army, currency, and mint, but the only definite
action taken was the creation of a postal system under a Postmaster
General for North America. Other suggestions for the formation of a
union were made in 1698 and 1701 but no action followed. In 1722, Daniel
Coxe, the first Provincial Grand Master of New England outlined a plan
of union in the preface of his Descriptions of Carolina "which
strikingly resembled the scheme submitted by Franklin to the Albany
Convention." (24)

The Albany Congress was called by the Board of Trade in September,
1753, to meet at Albany, New York, on June 19, 1754, for the purpose of
trading with the Indians and making plans for the defense of the
colonies against the French who were challenging British expansion into
the Ohio Valley. At the appointed time, twenty-five delegates from seven
colonies; Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York,
Connecticut. Pennsylvania, and Maryland---arrived at Albany and began
their labors.

It was decided unanimously that a union of the colonies was
desirable, and a committee consisting of "Hutchinson of Massachusetts,
Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of New York, Tasker of Maryland, and
Franklin of Pennsylvania"(25)was appointed to draw up a plan of
union. Hutchinson, Hopkins, and Franklin are known to have been
Masons. Franklin, in particular, was convinced that political union of
the American colonies desirable before the meeting of the Albany
Congress. On May 9, 1754, Franklin undertook to impress on the readers
of the Pennsylvania Gazette the need for united action by printing a
one-column, two-inch wood-cut of a snake divided into eight segments,
each of which bore the initials of one of the colonies, with the caption
"Join or Die." "The cartoon was immediately reproduced in four other
newspapers in Boston and New York." (26)

It should come as no surprise that Franklin submitted a plan of
union. said to have been outlined while on his way to Albany. The plan
provided for a president-general to be appointed by the Crown, and for a
grand council to be elected by the colonial assemblies---the identical
plan of organization of American Provincial Grand Lodges at that
time. The grand council empowered to raise and pay soldiers, to build
forts, and to equip vessels to guard the coasts. The necessary funds
were to be raised by the grand council which was to have the power to
levy taxes and impose general duties---the identical type of general
functions as exercised by a Grand Lodge over subordinate lodges. Each
colony was to retain it's charter, making only those changes necessary
to comply with the formation of the union but leaving the colony
government in complete control of local affairs---the federal union idea
employed in the relationship of local lodges to Grand Lodges. The plan
was not adopted; Franklin explained in his Autobiography that the plan
had too much prerogative in it to suit the colonial assemblies and too
much democracy to suit the royal government.(27)

Franklin left no hint that he used the constitution of Freemasonry as
a model for his Albany Plan but, since he published Anderson's
Constitutions in 1734 and had served as Grand Master of the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania also in 1734 ,(28) there can be no doubt
that he was familiar with the Masonic constitution. The fact that he
called the council of representatives of the several colonies a grand
council and that the council of the representatives of Masonic lodges is
called a Grand Lodge is circumstantial evidence that Masonry was
influencing his thinking. In the light of this evidence, the similarity
of the two plans of government leads to a reasonable conclusion that the
Masonic constitution was used as a model for Franklin's Albany Plan.

It is generally agreed among American historians that had Franklin's
Albany Plan been adopted, the American Revolution might never have
occurred. The Albany Plan contained the essence of the Constitution of
1789 and the evidence just presented shows that the Albany Plan
contained the essence of Masonic ideas on government.

The outbreak of the Revolution brought the collapse of royal
government in the colonies. Only the town and county systems of local
government remained capable of exercising any governmental functions
until de facto revolutionary state governments were organized, largely
at the insistence of Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and the Masons
controlling the prorogued Virginia assembly, under a System of
Committees of Safety. These men set up the dependent Continental
Congress which cannot be considered a truly national government for a
permanent union of the stares. But was a step in that direction.

Richard Henry Lee's resolution of June 7, 1776, in the Continental
Congress calling for a declaration of independence also called for the
appointment of a committee to draw up articles of confederation. This
resolution makes the fourth attempt by Masons to unite the American
colonies. The Congress was composed of fifty-six delegates, thirty-two
of whom are known to be Masons.(29) On June 12, 1776, a committee was
appointed to draw up a plan for a union of the states consisting of one
delegate from each state. The following Masons were members of the
committee: John Dickinson. Chairman, Josiah Bartlett, Samuel Adams,
Roger Sherman, Thomas McKean, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Joseph Hewes, Robert
R. Livingston, Stephan Hopkins.(30) This committee reported a draft of
the Articles of Confederation on June 20, 1776, but did not secure
approval until November 16, 1777, because of the extreme reluctance of
Congress to propose a central government which would infringe the
sovereignty of the states. The states were even more reluctant to
establish a union than the Congress for it was three and one-half years
before the states completed ratification of the plan and placed it in
operation. Weak as the central government was under the articles of
Confederation, it represented a victory for the unionists and was a
necessary step in the evolution of a satisfactory national government
for the United States.

The Masonic Convention that took place at Morristown, New Jersey, in
December, 1779, under the auspices of American Union Lodge, seems to be
significant. Over one hundred Masons from the various military lodges
were present. This group drew up a petition to the several Grand Lodges
to establish a General Grand Lodge for the United States and proposed
General George Washington as General Grand Master. The Grand Lodges of
Pennsylvania and Virginia agreed to the plan but that of Massachusetts
declined and the project was dropped. The leaders in government, the
army, and in Masonry---often the same men---were seeing the need for a
closer and stronger union among American Masons in their attempt to
establish a strong central government in the new nation.

Under the articles of Confederation, two other ideas basic in Masonry
were introduced into American government. A review of the origin and
history of the craft masonry reveals that one of the purposes of the
organization was to train apprentices to be master workmen. This
tradition of educational activity was carried forward into Speculative
Masonry and there expanded. In the days of Operative masonry secrecy was
employed to prevent an oversupply of skilled workmen, but after the
transition from builders in stone to builders of a social structure,
there need be no limitation of workmen except to those capable of
receiving the instruction. The Masonic educational concept now became
two-fold: (1) each lodge became a school for the teaching of Masonic
philosophy to those who gained admission; and (2) each Mason., through
his life, became a teacher of Masonic philosophy to the community. In
other words Freemasonry became the missionary of the new order---a
liberal, democratic order in which Masons sought to lead mankind through
education into a more equitable and just society. The implementation of
this educational concept aided if it did not inspire the establishment
of the public free schools, financed by the state, for the combined
purpose of technological and sociological education of the mass of
humanity, beginning in childhood. The public free schools were
considered free, in that no sect could prescribe the teachings of it's
dogmas: and free, in that they were open to all citizens without charge
except as to his proportion of the taxes used for their Support. A
German printer, Christopher Sowrs, of Germantown, wrote to Conrad Weise,
in complaint of the activities of Benjamin Franklin and the Freemasons
generally on behalf of the free schools as follows; "The people who are
the promoters of the free schools are Grand Masters and Wardens among
Freemasons, their very pillers." (31)

The opposition to the ideas of Masons on the subject of free public
schools was strong in 1785, but it was not strong enough to prevent a
provision for such education being incorporated in the Ordinance of May
20, 1785, as follows: "There shall be reserved the lot No.16, of every
township, for the maintenance of public schools within said township;
(32) This action was further confirmed in Article 3 of the Northwest
Ordinance of July 13, 1787, in these words: "Religion, morality, and
knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever
encouraged." (33)

The Masons of the revolutionary generation did not live to see the
consummation of their dream of a state supported public school system
but they made a start toward its realization, Accepting the fact that
adoption of the idea would take time, they did the next best
thing----they endowed schools where they could not induce state or local
political units to establish them. The following are a few examples of
their efforts:

George Washington founded a free school in Virginia at Alexandria,
urged the founding of a national university, supported the establishment
of the Military Academy at West Point, and left a bequest for a national
university that was ultimately bestowed on Washington and Lee
University. (34) Benjamin Franklin was the moving spirit in the
organization of the Library Association of Philadelphia in 1731, the
founder of the first free school in the city, and one of the founders of
the Academy which grew into the University of Virginia.(36) Abraham
Baldwin sponsored and was largely responsible for the founding of the
free school system and the University of Georgia. The majority of the
founding first Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia were
Masons.(37) John Macon and David Ker were founding members of the Board
of Trustees of the University of North Carolina.(38) Gamaliel Painter
gave his entire estate to Middlebury College.(39) John Dickinson was
president and benefactor of Dickinson College.(40) Michael Myers founded
Oneida Academy.(41) Samuel Kirkland founded Hamilton Colledge.(42)
Stephan Girard founded Girard Colledge.(43) Henry Knox proposed and
Henry Burbeck founded West Point Military Academy.(44) John Kendrick
erected a school at Wareham, Massachusetts.(45) DeWitt Clinton, the son
of general James Clinton, founded the public school system of New
York.(46) The minutes of Lodge No.2 of Philadelphia for February 13,
1781, read as follows: "A Representation of the unfortunate situation of
the family of Brethren of Bro. Ad Betten deceas'd being laid before this
Lodge from the Brethren of No. 29 it was therefore unanimously agreed
that this Lodge pay Ten pounds specie, annually towards the Education of
our deceased Bros. Eldest son until he is able to procure a subsistence
for himself."(47) the first normal school in America was opened in a
portion of the Masonic Temple at Lexington, Massachusettes.(48)The Grand
Lodge of Virginia set up the first Grand Lodge Educational Fund in
1812. (49)

When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, ending the Revolutionary
War, much of the territory of the United States within the limits
established by the treaty was politically unorganized. The Americans
were just beginning to penetrate beyond the mountains when the war
began; with the end of the war occupation of the western lands presented
the nation with a major problem. The United States, just emerged from a
colonial status, was itself a mother country before it had a firmly
established government. The Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787,
established the precedent for the creation and admission of new states
to the union on a basis of complete equality with the original
thirteen. This was a new colonial policy. Heretofore colonies had been
free and independent of the mother country, like the ancient Greek
colonies, or dependencies, like the English colonies in America had
been. Masons were familiar with this equality concept because new
Masonic lodges were always constituted on an equal basis with other
lodges in the fraternity. This policy is indicated in the concluding
statement of the constitution ceremony in Anderson's Constitutions of
1723 as follows: "And this Lodge being thus completely constituted,
shall be register'd in the Grand Master's book, and by his Order
notify'd to the other Lodges. (50)

It has already been observed that, at the time the Articles of
Confederation were in process of formation, leaders in the army,
government, and Masonry were of the opinion that a stronger central
government was necessary . In 1780, Washington, Hamilton, and Madison
advised the strengthening of the Confederation.(51) A specialized study
of the background of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 reveals that
the Society of Cincinnati, the officers of the Revolutionary Army, and
the Masons began the agitation for the writing of the Constitution of
the United States. The records show that the most influential officers
of the Revolutionary Army and members of the Society of Cincinnati were
active Masons. Their experiences in Masonry had shown them the value of
unity while experiences during the Revolution had demonstrated the
limitations resulting from lack of unity and singleness of command.

Disagreements between states developed almost immediately after the
formation of the government under the articles of Confederation and it
was one of these conflicts that gave the proponents of a stronger
central government a chance to propose a measure leading in that
direction. James Madison induced Maryland to establish a commission in
1785 to prepare rules to end the confusion in navigation on the
Potomac. The Commission found that changes, if made would affect
Pennsylvania and Delaware and, if they adopted the changes, other states
would as well. Madison persuaded the Virginia legislature to invite the
states to a convention to be held at Annapolis, Maryland, September 11,
1786, for the purpose of considering a uniform code of regulations for
commerce. Nothing was accomplished at Annapolis but the convention,
before adjournment, issued a call for another to meet at Philadelphia
the second Monday in May of 1787.

The Congress was not pleased at being thus ignored but public opinion
was developing in favor of a stronger central government. After Virginia
and other states elected delegates to attend the Philadelphia
convention, Congress issued a call for a convention to meet at the same
place and time to consider the revision of the Articles Of
Confederation.

Fifty-five delegates assembled in accordance with the call, of this
number, thirty-three listed below were Masons:

Of this group, two were Past Grand Masters, Franklin and Blair; two
were Grand Masters, Randolph and Brearley; and two were later elevated
to the Grand Mastership, Bedford and Davie. (53)

Philadelphia was one of the greatest centers of Masonic activity in
the New World, and it is inconceivable that the Masons of that city, who
had done so much to foster growth of Masonry in pre- revolutionary days,
overlooked the opportunity to entertain appropriately the distnquished
Masons who were attending the Convention. The City Tavern was the
rallying place of Philadelphias leading Masons, who met there socially
on many occasions before the revolution and held lodge there when
Freemasons Lodge was used as a hospital during the war. (54) The City
Tavern, too, became the rallying place for members of the Convention.

Here the members dined, slept, and held many conferences. Since in
the nature of things whenever men of different opinions and interests
congregate for the purpose of coming to agreement, they do most of their
real work, carrying on their most important discussions, and determine
most of their course, in of two or three off the record, one can
only guess to what extent Masonic brotherhood smoothed the path for the
compromises and agreements effected in the Convention.

The Convention had been called for the purpose of revising the
Articles of Confederation, but, after examining the magnitude of that
task, decided to build a new frame of government. This decision was in
itself a revolution but men who had challenged the might of Britain were
not prone to quibble over this technicality. I t had been said of this
men that; Though divide in their Opinions, they were among the best
leaders of the day, and no superior men could have been found for the
task before them. (56) William Gladstone, a British statesmen and prime
minister, once described the American Constitution as the most
wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
of man. (57) A more sober evaluation is that the Convention of 1787 was
one of the great creative assemblages in history.

The Constitution of the United States, as written by the
Constitutional Convention of 1787, has been the study of many
specialists in the field of government, and they are in substantial
agreement that its fundamental concepts include: popular sovereignty,
limited government, local self-government. Supremacy of the national
government in the federal system, separation of powers, supremacy of the
judiciary through judicial review, and individual rights protected by
constitutional provisions. (58)

It was one thing for a group of men possessing the abilities and
experiences of those who made up the Convention to write the
Constitution and entirely another to secure its acceptance by diverse
and conflicting interests of the states. Most of the members of the
Convention took part in the ratifying conventions in their states. (59)
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote eighty-five
letters called the Federalist that are considered the greatest argument
ever produced for the federal system of government. The Federalist is
one of the classics in the literature of federalism, and is one of the
great books produced by Americans in the field of government. (60)
While propaganda in favor of the Constitution, The Federalist was
propaganda on a high plane and probably did more to secure the
ratification of the Constitution than any other factor. In the realm of
practical politics, Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Sherman, Ellsworth,
Dickinson, Randolf, and Johnson contributed the influence, which tipped
the balance in favor of ratification in the hard fought battle in the
state conventions. The efforts of Madison in the Constitutional
Convention, composing part of The Federalist, and in the Virginia
ratification convention has earned him the sobriquet of Father of the
Constitution. Masons of lesser reputation were influential in the state
conventions. In Georga, for example, William Stephens, Joseph Habersham,
James Powell, George Handley, and Henry Osborne, all members of
Solomons lodge, worked for ratification with success that Georgia was
the fourth state to ratify the Constitution. (61)

Ratification had been won not only only the merits of the
Constitution but by the promise of the federalists to submit a series of
amendments to meet the objections of opponents. Madison took the lead in
carrying out this promise; he collected some two hundred proposed
amendments from state legislatures, learned societies, and prominent
individuals, reduced them to seventeen, and submitted them to Congress
which approved and submitted twelve of them to the states for
ratification. Ten were ratified and these ten are usually referred to as
the Bill of Rights because, in general, they provided additional
protection to the natural rights of the individual. Included in
these amendments were principles long advocated by Masons: religious
toleration; freedom of speech; a speedy trial according to law before
equals when accused of law violation; no imposition of excessive
punishment; and the reservation of all powers not delegated in the
Constitution.

A comparison of the principles of government contained in Andersons
Constitutions, universally adopted by Masons, with those contained in
the Constitution of the United States reveals that they are essentially
the same in both documents. There is conclusive evidence that the
majority of the men who worked for a federal union and wrote the
Constitution were Masons. Some of these Masons were the most influential
leaders of the fraternity in America, fully conversant with Masonic
principals of government. Freemasonry was the only institution at that
time governed by a federal system. There is not a scrap of evidence left
by any member of the Constitutional Convention indicating that these
principals were drawn from any other source. Since the government of the
United States bears such a startling similarity to the government of the
Masonic fraternity, both in theory and in structure, it is difficult to
ascribe the similarity to coincidence.

Some students of history and government profess to see the philosophy
of John Lock as the dynamic force in the shaping of the
Constitution. There is in Lockes theory but little that had long
been current coin in political philosophy. (62) If this is true, where
did Locke find his ideas? The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania printed in the
1781 edition of the Ahiman Rezon, a letter by John Locke in which he
says, speaking of Masons: However of all their arts and secrets, that
which I most desire to know is: The skylle of becommynge and
parfyghte, [quoting an ancient manuscipt]; and I wish it were
communicated to all mankind, since there is nothing more true than the
beautiful sentence, That the better men are, the more they love one
another; Virtue having in itself something so amiable as to claim the
hearts of all that behold it. (63) The Leland Manuscript, the
authenticity of which has been challenged but stoutly defended, contains
notes and comments written May 6, 1696, by Locke to Thomas, Earl of
Pembroke, a part of which reads as follows: I know not what the effect
the sight of this old paper may have upon your Lordship; but for my own
part I cannot deny, that it has so much raised my curiosity, as to
induce me to enter myself into the fraternity, which I am determined to
do (if I may be admitted) the next time I go to London, and that will be
shortly. (64) Locke was residing at Oates, near London, at the date
given in the Leland Manuscript. His letters to Mr. Molyneaux, dated
March 30 and July 2, 1696, prove that he was initiated into Masonry
between those dates (65) although the Grand Lodge of England has no
Masonic documents with which to determine his lodge membership. (66)

In 1667, Locke drew up the fantastic, feudalistic fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina as a frame of government for the
proprietors. (67) The only provision of the document in any way similar
to the Constitution of the United States was a slight measure of
religious liberty. A powerful intellectual force must have entered the
orbit of Lockes thinking after 1667 to alter his viewpoint that a
desirable social and political order should be based upon property and
privilege to one based upon natural rights and equality. The evidence
that Locke had studied some Masonic documents; that he was sufficiently
impressed to become a Mason; and the parallelism between the philosophy
in his later writings with that of Masonry supports to some degree the
conclusion that Locke drew his ideas from Masonry. In view of this
evidence, any influence that Locke may have ha d on the formation of the
Constitution was indirectly Masonic.

A study of the members of the Constitutional Convention discloses
that only James Madison and James Wilson had done a substantial amount
of reading and thinking about political theory. Others appear to have
read the subject smatteringly, and to have reflected on it even
less. Most members of the Convention in mentioning political theory seem
merely to be repeating catch phrases. This being true, the product
of the Conventions labors was a document of expediency based largely
upon those practices of social control consistently throughout the
states and that the majority of the members were well acquainted with
its principles and structure. It may be assumed that the basic
principles of such an institution, which had already formed wide-spread
acceptance, should be used as the pattern for a civil government.

A new frame of republican government had been written but it yet
remained to be tested in operation. On June 21, 1778, New Hampshire
became the ninth state to ratify the new constitution, the required
number for the organization of the new government. On July 2, 1788, the
last Congress under the Articles of Confederation resolved that the
states should choose presidential electors on the first Wednesday in
January, 1789, who, a month later, should select a president and vice
president; and that a congress elected under the Constitution should
meet the first Wednesday in March following in New York.

Washington was the unanimous choice for president and John Adams, a
non-Mason, was chosen vice-president. On April 30, 1789, Washington took
the oath of office as President of the United States administered by
Chancellor Robert B. Livingston, Grand Master of the grand Lodge of New
York. (68) General Jacob Morton, Worshipful Master of St. Johns lodge
in New York City---the oldest lodge in the cityand Grand Secretary of
the Grand Lodge of New York, was marshal of the inauguration
ceremonies. It was one of his duties to provide a Bible for the
occasion. Morton brought from tile alter of St. Johns Lodge the Bible
upon which Washington placed his hand while repeating the obligation to
uphold the Constitution of the United States and then kissed the sacred
volume to complete the ceremony. (69)

Washington was not considered a brilliant man but his character was
such as to command the respect and confidence of both Americans and
foreigners. (70) It has been written that Washington had imbibed the
Wisdom, strength, and beauty of Masonry. It exerted a profound influence
upon his career, from the time when he was raised a Master Mason, in
1753, through all the vicissitudes of war, peace, and nation
building. In him the sublime truth of the Order found practical
expression in shaping the character of the United States of America.
(71)

Of those who accompanied Washington in the inauguration ceremony,
Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Baron von Steuben, General Henry
Knox, and John Adams, all except Adams were Masons. It may be added that
the Governors of the thirteen states at the time of Washingtons
inauguration were Masons. (72)

Washington chose four Masons for his first Cabinet as follows:
Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of Treasury, Alexander
Hamilton; Secretary of War, General henry Knox; and Attorney General,
Edmund Randolph, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in
1788. (73) There can be no doubt that these men were chosen because of
their fitness for public office but in the minds of such men as
Washington, Masonic membership was another evidence of a mans
reliability and fitness for trust. (74) Washington wrote as follows:
being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the
Masonic fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and
public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interests of
the Society and be considered by them a deserving Brother. (75)

One of Washingtons first duties was to appoint the first Chief
Justice and four Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. Four of the
five were Masons as follows: John Jay, Chief Justice, and Associate
Justices William Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, and John Blair. (76) There
is a possibility that Associate Justice James Wilson may have been a
Mason, but no evidence that he was has been discovered.

The first Congress elected under the Constitution had several Masons
in its membership. In the Senate of the twenty-six members twelve are
known to have been Masons: Oliver Ellsworth, James Gunn, William
S. Johnson, Samuel Johnston, Rufus King, John Langdon, Richard Henry
Lee, James Monroe, Robert Morris, William Paterson, George Read, Phillip
Schuyler. (77)

John Langdon was elected as Presiodent of the Senate pro
ternpore. Twenty of the sixty-six men who served in the House of
Representatives are known to have been Masons as follows: Abraham
Baldwin, Theodorick Bland, John Brown, Daniel Carroll, Elbridge Gerry,
Frederick A. Muhlenberg, John Page, Josiah Parker, John Sevier, Nicholas
Gilman, Thomas Hartly, James Jackson, John Lawence, James Madison, Roger
Sherman, William Smith, John Steele, Thomas Sumter, Jeremiah Van
Rensselaer. (78)

Frederick A. Muhlenburg was elected Speaker of the House of
Representatives.

The possible connection between Masonry and government may be found
in the famous painting by Samuel Jennings which appeared in 1792
sometimes called "The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of
the Blacks. The important point is that the symbols appearing in the
painting are unmistakably Masonic symbols. The central figure is the
Virgin, traditional symbol of the Freemasons craft, sitting on a couch
near the East Gate of the ground floor or checkered pavement of the
temple of Virtue. The right arm and shoulder, the side of strength and
fidelity, support the Stewards rod, one end of which rests upon a dark
stain, representing spilled blood, on the checkered pavement while the
other holds high the cap of Liberty. Before her on a pedestal and
leaning against it are five of the books of the Liberal Arts and
Sciences and to the right are a lute and sphere representing the arts of
music and astronomy, seven in all. At her feet lies a broken Corinthian
Column, the Column of Beauty representing a murdered Grand Master, and
near it is a bust representing the features of Grand Master Joseph
Warren who was killed at Bunker Hill. Between the broken column and the
bust lies the Masters Square among the scattered and confused designs
of an Unfinished Temple. Attentive to her words of Light are
dark-skinned persons representing all people still in the darkness of
ignorance and superstition.

This painting, of course, is the product of one mans thought and
has no official connection with the government of the United States but
it is so suggestive as to justify some further interest in
symbolism. Man is an enigmatic creature having a dual nature, temporal
and spiritual. His institutions reflect the multiple facets of his
complex and varied mental processes. He is at once occupied with the
routine of satisfying the human needs for food, clothing, and shelter
and the less tangible and more varied spiritual and social needs. His
viewpoints are as varied as the individuals, subject not only to the
external changes of environment but to self-created internal
changes. Man alone has within himself any considerable power of thought
or imagination. One facet of mans behavior to come out of his
imagination, superstition, spiritual groping, and reasoning is
symbolism.

Signs, pictures, objects, emblems, words, numerals, music or any
means of conveying ideas from one individual to another become the
vehicle of symbolism or symbols. Certain of mans activities lend
themselves more readily to symbolism than others. The ritual of
Freemasonry is especially rich in symbolsfamiliar things that convey a
hidden meaning to the initiated. Philosophic Masonry is the heir to the
symbolism practiced in the ancient mysteries, the Hebrew Cabal, and
medieval Rosicrucian societies.

In this present age, where material things engross almost every
waking hour, symbolism has lost much of its fascination, but it was not
so in the eighteenth century when the revolutionary heroes pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the erection of a new
nation. As the crisis moved toward its climax the ideals for which they
fought began to assume symbolic form. Late in the afternoon of July 4,
1776, the Continental Congress resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams
and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the
United States of America. On August 20 the committee reported its
design to Congress; but the report was tabled, and for three years and a
half no further action was taken. On March 25, 1780, the report of the
first committee was referred to a new committee consisting of James
Lovell, John Morin Scott, and William Churchill Houston. This committee
received artistic assistance from Francis Hopkinson. A new design was
reported on May 10, (or 11), 1780, but debate was followed by recommital
to the committee with no further progress for two more years. In the
spring of 1782 a third committee, composed of Arthur Middleton, John
Rutledge, and Elias Boudinot with the assistance of William Barton,
A.M. reported a third design for a seal to Congress which was found not
satisfactory. On June 13, 1782, Congress referred all of the committee
reports to Charles Thomason, Secretary of Congress. Thomason immediately
wrote his report to Congress and submitted it on June 20, 1782; the
report was accepted the same day and thus the design of the great seal
was fixed. It is described as follows:

ARMS. Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief. azure;
the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper,
holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinster a bundle
of thirteen arrows, all proper. And in his beak a scroll, inscribed with
the motto, E Pluribus Unum.

For the CREST. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the
escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and
surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an azure
field.

REVERSE. A pyramid unfinished. In the Zenith, an eye in a triangle,
surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, Annuit
Coeptis. On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters
MDCCLXXVI. And underneath the following motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum.
(79)

[NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, the new secular order]

Among those who helped design the Great Seal of the United States the
following are known to have been Masons: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, William Churchill Houston, and William Barton. Whether they
drew heavily upon Freemasonry in this work it is impossible to assert
but when an informed Mason examines the Great Seal here is what he sees:
On the obverse is an eagle whose dexter wing has thirty-two feathers,
the number of ordinary degrees in Scottish Rite Freemasonry. The
sinister wing has thirty-three feathers, the additional feather
corresponding to the Thirty-Third Degree of the same Rite conferred for
outstanding Masonic service. The tail feathers number nine, the number
of degrees in the Chapter, Council, and Commandery of the York Rite of
Freemasonry. Scottish Rite Masonry had its origin in France; the York
Rite is sometimes called the American Rite; the eagle thus clothed
represents the union of French and American Masons in the struggle for
Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The total number of feathers in the
two wings is sixty-five which, by gematria, is the value of the Hebrew
phrase yam yawchod (together in unity). This phrase appears in Palms 133
as follows: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity, and is used in the ritual of the first degree
of Freemasonry. The glory above the eagles head is divided into
twenty-four equal parts and reminds the observer of the Masons gauge
which is also divided into twenty-four equal parts and is emblematic of
the service he is obligated to perform. The five pointed stars remind
him of the Masonic Blazing Star and the five points of fellowship. The
arrangement of the stars in the constellation to form overlapping
equilateral triangles and the Star of David calls to the Masons mind
King Davids dream of building a Temple, to his God, the Companions who
rebuilt a desecrated Temple, and the finding of the Word that was
lost. The gold, silver, and azure colors represent the sun, moon, and
Worshipful Master, the first that rules the day, the second, the night,
and the third, the lodge. While silver, connected with the letter Gimel
or G and being surrounded on an azure ground by a golden glory, reminds
the Mason of the letter G, a most conspicuous furnishing of a proper
lodge room. The shield on the eagles breast affirms by its colors,
valor (red), purity (white), and justice (blue), and reminds the Mason
of the cardinal virtues. The value of these colors, by gematria, is 103,
the value of the phrase ehben ha-Adam (the stone of Adam) and suggests
the perfect ashlar, or squared stone, of Freemasonry. One hundred and
three is also the value of the noun bonaim, a Ranbbinical word
signifying builders, Masons. Thus the national colors spell out, by
gematria, the name of the fraternity. The scroll in the eagles beak,
bearing the words E Pluribus Unum (of the many) reminds him also of the
unity which has made brothers of many.

On the reverse, is the All Seeing Eye within a triangle surrounded by
a golden glory. Besides the obvious Masonic significance of this design,
it has a cabalistic value of seventy plus three plus two hundred,
equaling two hundred and seventy-three which is the value of the phrase
ehben mosu habonim (the stone which the builders refused) familiar to
all Royal Arch Masons. It is also the value of the Hebrew proper noun
Hiram Abiff, the architect of Solomons Temple and the principal
character of the legend used in the Master Mason degree. The triangle is
isosceles, formed by two right triangles having sides of five, twelve,
and thirteen units in length, illustrating the 47th Problem of
Euclid. The triangle also represents the capstone of the unfinished
pyramid and reminds the Mason of the immortality of the soul and that in
eternity he will complete the capstone of his earthly labors according
to the designs on the trestle-board of the Supreme Architect of the
Universe. The unfinished pyramid cannot fail to remind him of the
unfinished condition of the Temple when tragedy struck down its Masters
architect.

The blaze of glory found on either side of the Great Seal cannot fail
to remind the Mason of the Great Light in Masonry which is the rule and
guide to faith and practice and without which no Masonic lodge can
exist. It reminds him that only more light can dispel the pall of
ignorance in which he stumbles until he enters tile Celestial Lodge
where all light is given.

Returning from this short excursion into symbolism to summarize the
investigation into the possible connections that might exist between
Masonry and United States government, several appear to be significant:

(1) The fundamental principles laid down for the government of the
Masonic fraternity by its oldest surviving documents are found to be
present in the Constitution of 1789.

(2) Many of the leading spirits in the development of a federal union
were Masons.

(3) The evolution of the idea of a free public school system
supported by the state was fostered by many Masons.

(4) The policy of admitting new states to the Union on a basis of
complete equality with the old finds its counterpart in Masonry in the
creation of new lodges equal in every respect to the position held by
older lodges.

(5) A number of tile men who influenced the writing and who wrote the
Constitution of 1789 were Masons well informed in Masonic philosophy,
practice, and organization.

(6) Masons occupied many influential offices in the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the government in this period of
its greatest plasticity.

These points of significance lead to the conclusion that
investigators in the fields of history and government have overlooked an
in influence in the formation of the government of the United States
that may well have been as important as the economic pressures of the
age. It also appears that political theorists have overlooked an
influence of major importance in the evolution of American democracy; a
democracy that may be defined as much broader than a special political
form, a method of conducting government by means of officials elected by
popular suffrage; a democracy in which these processes are only a means,
the best means so far discovered, for realizing the idealistic goals for
the full development of human potentialities. This democracy is a way of
life, social and individual, founded on faith in human capacity and
intelligence and in the just power of accumulated and cooperative
experience; and in equality before the law and in its administration and
in the right to have and express opinion---a democracy whose final
definition coincides with that of Freemasonry.

The fundamental pattern of Anglo-American life was now cut. It
remains now to follow the pioneer westward to Texas and take note of the
place Masons and Freemasonry occupied along the trace.

Notes:

1. G. Hartwell, Jones, The Dawn of European Civilization, 802.
2. Douglas Knoop and C.P. Jones, The Genesis of Freemasonry, 62.
3. Ibid., 84-5.
4. George Unwin, Guilds and Companies of London, 6-7.
5. Brooks Adams, The Embryo of a Commonwealth, Atlantic Monthly,
LIX, 612.
6. Oliver P. Chitwood, A History of Colonial America, 98.
7. Texas Grand Lodge Magazine, IX, 346.
8. C. M. Andrews , Colonial self-Government, 182-201; Chitwood, A
History of Colonial America, 255.
9. F. C. Wilson, The American Political Mind, 44-48.
10. E. B. Greene, The Foundations of American Nationality, 173; Penns
laws are given in full in Samuel Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania,
619-624.
11. Hugh M. Clokie, The Origin and Nature of Constitutional Government,
130.
12. Melvin Johnson, Beginnings of Freemasonry in America, 381; a copy is
in the Library of the Supreme Council, Washington, D. C.
13. Knoop and Jones, the Genesis of freemasonry, 160.
14. Andersons Constitutions first published in 1723 has been reprinted
many times. The first American edition by Benjamin Franklin in 1734 is
now rareone copy being in the Library of the Supreme Council,
Washington, D. C.. Citations for this work for convenience are taken
from a reprint in Jewel P. Lightfoot, The Constitutions and Laws of the
Grand Lodge of Texas, 371.
15. Ibid., 363.
16. Ibid., 369.
17. Ibid., 363.
18. Ibid., 368.
19. Ibid,. 367.
20. Ibid,. 364.
21. Ibid,. 371.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid,. 369.
24. Old South Leaflets, No. 9, Franklins Plan of Union, 1754,
p. 14.
25. Ibid., 15.
26. W. G. Bleyer, (Afain Ctrrents ?) in the History of American
Journalism, 76.
27. Benjamin Franklin, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 169.
28. The New Age, XXXI, 106.
29. Determined by comparing a list of known Masons with a list of the
members of the Congress.
30. Determined by comparing a list of known Masons with a list of the
membership of the committee given in the Journal of the American
Congress, I, 370.
31. Benjamin W. Bryant, Freemasonry and Toleration in the Colonies,
The Builder, X, 11.
32. S. E. Morison (ed.) Sources and Documents Illustrating the American
Revolution, 204-205.
33. Ibid,. 231.
34. The New Age, LXI, 6; LVI, 88; Photostatic copy of Washingtons
will, 7-10 (original in Fairfax County Courthouse, Virginia); George
Washington, Farewell Address, Callahan, Washington the Alan and the
Mason, 172; Encyclopedia Britannica (1946). XXXIII, 546.
35. Chitwood, A History of Colonial America, 572; The New Age, LXI, 6;
E. B. Greene, The Foundations of American Nationality, 306.
36. The New Age, LXI, 6; Caleb P. Patterson, The Constitutional
Principles of Thomas Jefferson, 171-172.
37. The New Age, LXI, 666; Jameson, Dictionary of United States History,
47; W. B. Clarke, Early and Historic Freemasonry in Georgia, 16.
38. The New Age, XXXIX, 349-352; Dunbar Rowland, Encyclopedia of
Mississippi, I, 973; II, 1000.
39. John Spargo, Freemasonry in Vermont, 40.
40. Jameson, Dictionary if United States History, 198.
41. Peter Ross, History of Freemasonry in New York, 1173.
42. Ibid.
43. Boyden File of Famous Masons, Library of the Supreme Council,
Washington, D. C..
44. The New Age, XXXIV, 622; Encyclopedia Britannica (1946) XXIII, 546.
45. The New Age, XLVIII, 539-540.
46. Harold U. Faulkner, American Political and Social History, 286, he
New Age, LXI, 5.
47. Morris S. Barrattt, and Julius F. Sacbse, Freemasonry in
Pennsylvania, 1727-1907, I, 416.
48. Lexington Historical Society, What to see in Lexington, 4.
49. Wm. Moseley Brown, Freemasonry in Virginia, 98.
50. Lightfoot, The Constitution and Laws of the Grand Lodge of Texas,
373.
51. Wallace S. Sayre, an Outline of American, 16.
52. Determined by comparing a list of known Masons with a list of the
members of the convention.
53. David McGreor, History of Freemasonry in New Jersey, 140.
54. Sidney Morse, Freemasonry and the Drums of Seventy-Five, 43-44.
55. Hastings Lyan, The Constitution and the Men Who Made It, 63.
56. John Spencer Basset, A Short History of the United States,
1492-1936, 242.
57. A. H. Kelley and W. A. Harbison, The American Constitution, 1.
58. Kelly and Harbison, The American Constitution, 1-6; C. P. Patterson
and James B. Hubbard, Civil Government of Texas and the United States,
23-244; Sayre, An Outline of American Government, 23-25.
59. Lyon, The Constitution and the Men Who Made It, 264.
60. Wilson, The American Political Mind, 138.
61. Clarke, Early History and Freemasonry in Georgia, 99.
62. W. A. Dunning, A History of Political Theories from Luther to
Montesquieu, 845.
63. Henry S. Bonneman, Early Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, 102.
64. The Leland Manuscript, The New Age, 1387.
65. Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 526.
66. E. Newton, Grand Lodge Librarian, to James D. Carter, May 7, 1953.
67. J. F. Jameson, Dictionary of United States History, 254.
68. Charles H. Callahan, Washington the Man and the Mason, 270.
69. Philip A. Roth, Masonry in the Formation of Our Government, 116.
70. Bassett, A Short History of the United States, 1492-19-6., P. 256.
71. Sol Bloom, Masons and the Constitution, The New Age, XLVI, 159.
72. The Christian Science Moniter, November 17, 1919.
73. Callahan, Washington the Man and the Mason, 262.
74. Henry B. Hemenway, The Relationship of Masonry to the Liberation
of Spanish America, The Builder, I, 259.
75. George Washington to King Davids Lodge, August 16, 1790, published
in Callahan, Washington the Man and the Mason, 270-271.
76. Determined by comparing a list of known Masons with membership as
given by Jameson, Dictionary of the United States History, 636.
77. Determined by comparing a list of known Masons with membership as
given in Biographical Congressional Directory, 1774-1903, 19-21.
78. Ibid.
79. Journals of the Continental Congress, XXII, 389-340.